Registrations are open for Zero Waste Malaysia’s (ZWM) educate-the-educator initiative – the Green Wira Programme (GWP) – in collaboration with Axiata Foundation. The GWP pilot cohort will run from September 2023 to September 2024 with the goal of encouraging the development of two Zero Waste Schools in Malaysia.

The GWP pilot cohort aims to empower 85 primary school educators through structured online modules and livestreams, intensive training, and a chance to receive up to RM30,000 in project seed funding. This pilot cohort is only open to primary school teachers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Registrations have begun and will close on 6th October 2023.

Inspired by ZWM’s 2022 Stakeholder Survey, which highlights Educational Institutions as the third most responsible in driving environmental change, the programme focuses on the critical role played by educators in compelling these changes due to their unique position and access to young minds. Further in-depth conversations with stakeholders in the education sector found that local educators have the passion to expand on environmental education within their schools, but lack time, training, and implementation skills.

“GWP has real potential to empower local educators and give them a much deeper understanding of how to teach zero waste and sustainability in schools,” said Khor Sue Yee, Director and Co-founder of ZWM, “We have worked with the youth before through our Wira Zero Waste programme and with the team’s collective experience, we hope to build easy to digest content for the heroes of schools – educators. The opportunity to collaborate with Axiata Foundation as part of their latest waste pillar – Say No 2 Waste – is a huge step forward in pushing the green agenda in schools which we are very grateful for.”

Registrations are now open for primary school teachers including Sekolah Kebangsaan, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan, Private, and International Schools. To sign up for the GWP, educators are required to fill in this form (https://bit.ly/gwpregistrations) and attach a Letter of Support from their headmaster.